Now that our 10th anniversary is behind us, we're focusing again on moving forward.

You may have seen a couple of new faces wearing the justFRED colours during Harvest Jazz & Blues: Taerie, Mae and Chris.

Taerie is a designer / photographer who's also a student at the Centre for Arts & Technology. Mae is a photog/writer with a day job at The Playhouse. And Chris is our mobile screen driver and justFRED ambassador.

And one of the things they pointed out was that we don't have a section of the site where you can 'meet' the crew. So we've begun working on that.

Plus we're doing what we hope is the final test for a brand new justFRED feature that we hope to launch in the next week or two.

As they say on the radio: stay tuned.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

http://www.justfred.ca/cmine/albums/catherineuploads/2007/sep%2014/lutes/normal_IMG_9859.JPG" height="266" width="400">

If you're a justFRED member and you get the justFRED-O-GRAM, you know what to do.

Cheers,
George

Most of the time, our technology works. Maybe not always perfectly, but it works.

This Saturday, however, we had a series of technical mishaps that has us all upset and shaking our heads in dismay: As a result of equipment failure and human error, we lost over a hundred photos.

Photos of a whole bunch of people who agreed to Say Cheese! to three different justFRED photogs went up in virtual smoke. We think we may be able to save some of them...that effort takes place tomorrow...but we're not going to bet on the outcome.

So if you are one of those people, please accept our apologies. It's an extremely rare event for us to lose even one picture, and to have three incidents like this in a single 24-hour period is very disturbing.

Thanks for understanding.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

We're 10 months old on Monday...although it seems like years rather than months after a whirlwind week like the last one.

It started last weekend with the Dragon Boat Festival and ended today with the wrap-up Harvest Jazz & Blues concert in Officers' Square and the annual Terry Fox Run.

And so here we are on our 10th anniversary with exclusive interviews with the legendary Dr. John - that will air this week on CKTP Radio - and with New Brunswick jazz guitarist Norman Learo. With the launch 0f justFRED.tv and the mobile video screens. And just days away from the addition of another new piece of the justFRED puzzle.

And for all that, we have to say thanks to a lot of people: Marco and Judy and all of 800+ volunteers and staff members at Harvest Jazz & Blues who helped us with our coverage. We hope you like the results.Thanks to the performers who allowed us to bring you a taste of their music. If you enjoy what you see, buy their CD's.

And a special thanks to everyone this week who said Cheese! for our cameras.
Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

http://www.justfred.ca/cmine/albums/catherineuploads/2007/sep%2016/terry%20fox%20run/normal_IMG_0004.JPG" height="266" width="400">

Closed: WiseCaroline is the winner. 

We're 10 today (Monday, Sep 17/07). So the 10th person who sends us a 'Happy Anniversary' greeting in the http://www.justfred.ca/contests.php">contest entry form wins a Norman Learo CD.

We're going to make this an Anniversary Week with a new prize every day. Stay tuned.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

PS - Michelle raises a good question: How many times can you enter a contest? Unless we specify otherwise, the answer is: Just Once.

PPS - And she also asks, can you win more than once in a week? And the answer is: Yes, but only if the prizes are different products from different suppliers. So you can only win one Norman Learo CD, for example, but if we add other prizes during the week, such as pizza from Pizza Shack, then you could win the music AND the grub.

http://justfred.ca/cmine/albums/catherineuploads/2007/sep%2015/hjb/normal_IMG_9783.JPG" height="266" />

Some technical glitches today...accidentally erased camera memory card, another with corrupted files...sigh. And thanks to the lousy weather, our justFRED.tv Mobile Unit #1 had to stay in its cave, charging up in anticipation of the next sunny day.

But we did get the interviews with Dr. John and Norman Learo. They're in editing and will be posted asap.

See you at the final wrap-up concert in Officers' Square at 1 p.m. before we dash over to the start of the annual Terry Fox Run at the Small Craft Aquatic Centre at 2 p.m.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

PS - Did anybody else notice all the leaves on the ground this evening? Double sigh.

http://www.justfred.ca/cmine/albums/catherineuploads/2007/sep%2015/hjb/normal_IMG_9800.JPG" height="266" width="400" />

The Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival continued through a blustery, rainy Saturday. My job today was staying at home base answering the phone, processing content, catching up on emails, editing, and generally cleaning up.

As I write this, our video team is waiting for an opportunity for one of the rare interviews granted by Blues legend, Dr. John, an opportunity that came our way thanks to the foresight and tenacity of our sales guy / project manager Lindsay Richardson.

And as much as covering the festival has been fun - great music, friendly musicians, and large, easygoing crowds - the long hours are starting to take their toll on equipment and people.

The promised sunshine tomorrow and through the early part of next week will help...but what we all need is a nice, long sleep.

One more day. Just one more day. And come Monday, we'll be missing all of the action.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

The larnin' curve continued on Friday, with some things working and others not working so well at all. The mobile video unit made it's daytime debut. Besides the rolling, canned presentation, we used it to feed video directly from our camera during several live, outdoor performances. (F0r the technically inclined, the RCA-connector feed worked instantly, while we had some issues with the S-video feed, likely due to incorrect settings for the screens. We'll work on that issue over the next few days.)

Tairie and Mae had another successful evening of photography on the streets and in the open venues. You'll see more of their work in the days and weeks to come.

Chris was joined by his partner, Ingrid, as he wheeled the justFRED.tv mobile unit through the streets.

We ran Lindsay ragged with everything from lugging car battery units around to keep the mobile screens alive.

And we received wonderful support from performers who generously agreed to let us post excerpts from their shows to justFRED for your viewing pleasure. (So buy their CD's, ok?)

We'll be back at it tomorrow - make that later today, actually - plus our usually weekly visit to the farmer's market.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

http://justfred.ca/cmine/albums/catherineuploads/2007/sep%2014/at/normal_IMG_9533.JPG" width="400" height="266">

So after days of preparation, breakdowns, and problems just short of equipment bursting into flames, we finally hit the streets this evening with the justFRED-mobile: our new dual-screen mobile digital signs mounted on a scooter and guided through the downtown core by our driver, Chris Dickinson.

The unit is the brainchild of Nikola Kasteljanov of Mobila1 based in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. You'll be hearing a lot more aboutMobila1 and justFRED as we team up to help turn Nik's wonderful idea into a successful commercial product.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca

http://www.justfred.ca/cmine/albums/catherineuploads/2007/sep%2013/jfmobile/normal_IMG_9044.JPG" />

The secret justFRED-mobile arrived late Tuesday and, by early Wednesday morning, we had it rigged and ready. Chris, our experienced operator, checked things out on Wednesday afternoon and declared us road ready. Nadine and Lindsay lined up the clients, while Mila and I worked on production and Stephen prepared to handle tech support.

Everyone at Musiplex - they're in on the secret, of course - declared it a sensation.

And then we waited...and watched...and hoped.

But by late afternoon, the forecast wasn't promising: high probability of showers and, even worse, the certainty of high winds.

So we reluctantly called off the the first public excursion, hoping that the weather will be more cooperative on Thursday.

We're all disappointed, but we didn't need a Mary Poppins scene gone bad with Chris whirling wildly into the night sky.

All we can say now is: wish us luck for tomorrow.

Cheers,
George
justFRED.ca